Creator Failure
by TheBrick
Summary: Normality. Such a simple word. Yet that single word can have many meanings, depending on the person speaking it. OCs accepted.
1. Prologue: Thievery

**This is a rewritten version of chapter one, which, for those of you that** **read it, really needed it. Basically, it was un-thought-out, had nothing to do with the sting to do with the ste used in the rest of the story, and… Well, it sucked. Criticism is very welcome, I want to improve in any way I can, and you can be as brutal as you want, unless you decide to flame me or this story. One more thing: The story starts off lighthearted, but it will become much darker as the plot moves on. Don't turn out the light.**

* * *

**Do I really need to say anything here? Seriously, do I? Is Nintendo happy that they need to make a kid live in constant paranoia of being sued just for writing a fanfiction, using characters that they, in no way, shape, or form, own?**

* * *

I sighed as the wind hit my face as I stood in the doorway of my old house. This place… I've lived here all thirteen years of my life, but all I've known from here is misery. Oh crap, forgot to introduce myself. Name's Matt Gerace, age thirteen, clothes all hand-me-downs from the few kind folks around here, which consisted of an old camouflage t-shirt and black pants, with an old brown backpack I picked up a couple of years ago. And now we come to the point where most people decide to write me off as crazy. My hair. It's completely pale. Coupled with my ruby red eyes, it produces an image of someone who (according to my buddy Blaze) is probably missing a few screws from their head. Not that he's any different.

Speaking of Blaze, here he comes now.

Blaze walked up next to me, rubbing his eyes with a paw. "Morning Matt," he grunted. His gold-colored fur rippled in the pretty much nonexistent wind. Yes, Blaze is a shiny Riolu. Get over it.

"Morning," I replied with a yawn. The morning was so peaceful, so serene. No one was bitching at me, so one was throwing anything at me. Life seemed perfect.

It was then that the bitch that is Life decided to remind me how much it hated me.

"Ah, itsh the little bashtard," my mother slurred from behind me. "Itsh finally time for bashtard to leave. By bysh, bashtard!" She swayed a little in place as she waved.

"Aw, fuck you mom."

"Fine! Be that way!" She suddenly burst into tears. Embarrassingly loud, drunken tears. I started edging away from her slowly. It was time to go to the Gromell Town Pokemon lab, before this got violent.

* * *

"Well, this is it," I stated as we reached the door to the town Pokemon lab after walking through our hometown and avoiding the stares of the everyday people, as hard as that was for me.

"Fun, can we move on?" Blaze asked. "My hot chocolate's getting cold." He took a sip from the mug of hot chocolate that I could swear magically appeared in his hand, since I hadn't seen it before.

"Where'd you get hot chocolate?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't see you with one when we left."

"Oh, someone left a mug outside, and I took it before it could get cold."

I thought about the moral issues associated with that for a second, then shrugged. "Works for me."

At that point, someone tried to open a door into me.

"OW!"

* * *

"I'm so sorry!" Professor Maple cried, wringing her hands out of panic. I groaned mentally. There was almost nothing as annoying as an overly worried man-woman. And Maple certainly was a man-woman. It (I'm not even going to try and use a gender; it's way too confusing) was about five and a half feet tall. It had long hair tied in a ponytail just past its shoulders, with a very masculine face, along with a beard; this was offset, though, with the fact that it had bulges under its shirt along the top of its torso.

"Welcome, welcome," Maple greeted. "Glad to see you're here this early. And I'm sorry about earlier, you know…?"

"It's okay," I replied, waving the professor off and getting to my feet.

"It's a good thing you have a hard head," Blaze remarked. I glared at him, but didn't say anything.

"Well, if you're okay, then let's go get you registered," said Professor Maple, going into the back of its lab. "Now, where did I put that form?" I heard the shuffling of paper. I grinned silently. Oh, it wouldn't be finding _that_ particular paper any time soon, I made sure of that.

I went over to the machine that stored the Pokemon used for new trainers and opened the glass dome covering the thing. Let's see now, which one do I want…

Squirtle, who's perfect for new trainers, known for being calm and relaxed, but not particularly smart?

Bulbasaur, who is also a good choice for newbie trainers, and having a plant growing on them to boot?

Or Charmander, who is harder for newbs to take care of, but has an awesome flame on its tail throughout its evolution?

The choice was obvious; who wouldn't pick a Pokemon with fire on its tail?

"Are you sure about this?" asked Blaze as I took the Charmander Pokeball from its slot. "You'll get into a ton of trouble if you get caught."

"Relax," I replied, slipping the ball in my pocket, "what other people don't know won't hurt them." I raised my voice. "Hey, professor, I think I found your paper thingy!"

"Oh, good," it responded, coming back into the main room. "I was beginning to think I had thrown it out by accident; where was it?"

"Right here," I answered, gesturing to the Pokeball machine; I thanked whatever legendaries were with me that it had a reflective glass dome, so that newbie trainers wouldn't know what they were getting. Actually, that seems kind of pointless, once I think about it; even though they don't make the Starter pamphlets here, they can get one from Kanto, which isn't that far across the water.

"Huh, that's funny…" It scratched the back of its head in confusion. "Oh well, I guess I moved it there when I went to get my coffee." It took out a pen and began filling out the paper, while I stood there sweating bullets out of silent panic. Blaze, on the other hand, was a master of the poker face; you would never guess what he was thinking at that moment from his face alone.

" – And, done!" said Professor Maple, signing the last piece of paper. "Now to get you a Pokedex." It took a machine that looked kind of like a Nintendo DS and handed it to me. When I pressed the button that would be where the DS's power button would be, the screen flickered into life.

"Pokedex version 1.4, registered to Matthew Gerace. Please place your eye over the bottom screen." I did so, and a beam of light shot out and hit me in the eye; thankfully without pain. "Scanning done, Pokedex registered to Matt Gerace, current number of Pokemon captured: 2." I was sweating, hoping, _praying_, that it hadn't noticed. My praying must have gone to the wrong legendary, though, because Professor Maple noticed. It definitely noticed.

"Crap! Run, Blaze!"

We turned and ran to the lab door, only for it to open in my face. Again. Does this town's doors have something against my face or something?

"Well, hi, freak." I groaned.

"Hi, Fred." Fred Stone. Molly Smith. Those two names are the only things in the world that can make me want to kill babies. Fred was a giant, six-foot-three. And he's twelve. Fucking hell. Molly, on the other hand, was a dwarf, four-foot-seven at thirteen.

And these two hate me. I've never understood why. Eh, probably because I'm not 'normal'. Anyway, these two, about six years ago, decided to make my life more of a hell than it already was. Almost daily beatings. Stealing my money every time I managed to get some. Hell, they even give Blazer his fair share of beatings, too, and he's a Pokemon. That should speak for itself how mean they are.

Of course, most of it's the fact that Fred is like a big rock. He's impossible to move, he moves when he wants to.

So basically, I'm screwed.

* * *

"Why was that freak here?" asked Fred once Matt had ducked around them. "Shouldn't they have banned him from being alive by now?"

"Don't ask me," stated Molly, shrugging. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Hey!" cried Professor Maple from behind them, standing there as though he hadn't just had a Pokemon 'stolen' from him. "Aren't you two here for a Pokemon too?"

"Sure, whatever," snorted Fred. "I bet anything that bastard got is pathetic."

"You never know…" said the professor mysteriously, beckoning the two to follow him into the lab.

* * *

"Hey! Fucktard! I challenge you to a battle!" a loud voice called from behind me. I sighed again, and motioned for Blaze to run.

"Never!" I called out in reply. I heard the cracking of branches behind me and gulped. That hadn't been the smartest thing I'd ever done.

"Too bad, cause I just found ya!" he jeered. He pulled out a Pokeball and threw it. Out came the Squirtle he had received not ten minutes before. "Frankie, Water Gun!" Wait for it…

The Squirtle just gave him an odd look. I had to resist to massive urge to burst out laughing when I saw Fred's face! Fuckin' hilarious!

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! You seriously thought that a Squirtle you just got would know Water Gun?" I had to stop speaking there, from laughing so much.

The Squirtle looked embarrassed. It reached a hand into its throat…

"Frankie, no!"

But it was too late.

* * *

Me and Blaze had to split up after Frankie had done his thing. If none you morons reading this know what thing I speak of, then let's just say it involves vomit. No one wants to stay around vomit. Speaking of regrouping, I had yet to meet my new Charmander.

"Go, Ash!"

What came out of the Pokeball was a two-foot-high orange salamander. One that didn't seem too happy about meeting me.

"Die, motherfucker!" I had to hit the ground as a giant blue beam soared within a paper's width of cutting my head off; as it was, it still managed to burn several hairs off of my head.

"What the hell? What'd I do?"

"You lived. NOW DIE!"

"Wait!" cried Blaze, running in between us and waving his hands around. "Don't kill him yet! I know he acts like it, but he isn't drunk!"

I gave him a look that said, 'what the hell?'

"Fine, if he's not drunk, then how come he gave me a crappy name like Ash? The only people with that name should be naïve idiots wearing hats!"

"Um…" Blaze looked at me. "He's an idiot?"

"Hey!"

"But," Blaze continued, "he's not a naïve idiot, and he doesn't wear a hat."

"Look, buddy," muttered Ash, quiet enough that I could barely hear him, "this isn't about you, this is about me. I hate the name Ash!"

"Well," I interrupted, "the name's final until we can visit a Name Rater. They're the only ones in this game that can change nicknames, for some reason."

Why is it that only Name Raters can change nicknames in the games? I've never figured that one out.

"Fine, but I'm going to warn you," here, Ash's claws glinted evilly in the sunlight, "I like killing. DIE!" He suddenly lunged forward and stabbed an innocent Starly that was just looking up from looking for worms in the ground.

"I regret nothing!" it cried out as it died.

I facepalmed. "That's not… You know what, screw it, I'm just going to tell you what my goal is on this journey."

I suddenly wondered why Professor Maple hadn't pursued me when he found out I stole Ash, but pushed the thought to the back of my mind to deal with later.

"My goal," I stated as I paced in front of the two, "is to find Pokemon that are mistreated, prejudiced against, or hated. I'm going to try to change people's views of them. Pokemon such as Absol, whom people view as the cause of disasters, even though they're only warning people of them; Golbat, whom people seem to associate with Team Rocket; Mightyena, whom is the same, except for Teams Aqua and Magma, etc. etc. etc.. Any questions about this (incredibly shitty) speech?"

"Nope."

"Nada."

"Then let's go!"

* * *

The man chuckled as he watched the small group talking together. He didn't actually know why the boss had told him to keep an eye on the young trainer, but he was the type of person who was like a Growlithe; completely and utterly loyal to their master, to the point of dying.

It didn't hurt that his master was also one of the most powerful unregistered trainers in the region.

* * *

**One final note before I go: I'm not using any Gen. V Pokemon until their English names are revealed, for the simple fact that I'm going to be too lazy to go back and change the names once they're revealed.**

**Edit: And here are the guidelines I forgot in the original post.**

**Name (first, last, middle is optional)**

**Age (at least 13 if they're a trainer, because that's how this world works) **

**Origin (for those not from Ikanau)**

**Physical features (Please be detailed here. This includes hair, eyes, height, weight, build, markings, etc.)**

**Clothing (What do they wear? Again, please be detailed.)**

**Personality (How do they act? How do they treat others? Yet again, please be detailed.)**

**Quotes (Show off their talking style, so I know how to write their speech, plus show off their personality a little.)**

**Likes/Dislikes (What do they like? What do they not like?)**

**Talents/Flaws (Optional. What are they good at? What are they not good at?)**

**Pokemon (Up to six, unless they're a trainer (remember, there's no storage system, so the extra pokemon have to go to a relative or something), in which case add storage pokemon (up to 6, because of shitty memory on my part). The pokemon should include: A nickname (if any), species, a couple of moves moves (please try and keep the number low, though. Again, shitty memory), their personality, and how they were obtained. No legendaries/shinies. No Unova/Isshu pokemon unless their English names have been revealed (Snivy, Zoroark, etc.). If there are duplicate species, they must both have nicknames. Otherwise, go wild. Just please try to be realistic.)**

**Again, these are just guidelines, but if you don't fill in a certain part, then I'll fill it in myself. I need:**

**Four Elite Four members**

**Seven Gym Leaders**

**About ten or so traveling trainers, maybe more**

**And that's it for now. More potential candidate requests will be included in future chapters. And before you ask, I mostly have the plot written out, I just need characters to fill them, and I'm too lazy to come up with my own. And remember: PM only, I don't want to have to go sifting through reviews. **


	2. The First Capture

I yawned, bored completely out of my mind. Our little band (read: my slaves) were going up Route 2, but we STILL hadn't found a single wild Pokemon for me to kill! I mean, I can only go for so long without killing anything, my urge to throw some fire into someone's face was killing me! I have needs, people! I've gone through three hours of nothing being seriously maimed since we left Nagi Town, and even THEN I had to go without killing for a fair amount of the trip from Gromell Village. The most I've gone without either killing or seriously hurting anything was only about four hours, and even then, that was only because I was eating and checking out a seriously hot Charmanderess going by my – oh look, a wild Starly. I grinned my favorite insane grin. Perfect...

I leapt forward, pulling out my claws as I prepared to remove its beak from its face – and then the thing looks up. The Starly squawked and swept up a bunch of sand in my eyes with its wings, and I had to resort to my special tactical maneuvers to avoid its Tackle.

Okay, fine, I tripped over a rock. Happy now? Blaze rolled his eyes at me with a mocking smile (I decided to introduce him to Mr. Stabby later for his for that), and gave the damn bird a Force Palm to the back of the neck. I felt the need to point and laugh at him.

"You're best attack is slapping stuff? Now I've seen everything," I guffawed. He glared at me for a minute, but the glare suddenly turned into an evil grin.

"...If there's one thing I've learned from reading 8-Bit Theater, it means that smile cannot be good for me," I muttered focusing all my attention behind to to see what he was looking at.

"Oh, you have no idea," Blaze said back to me, still with that really creepy grin.

"And," I continued, "there's only one way for me to combat that." I began gathering energy in my paws for my attack. "HADOKEN!"

I spun around and unleashed my energy attack, which hit…a Beedrill. And, all of you out there who have been stung by a Beedrill can understand why I did what I did next. Well, at least those of you that breathe fire.

"Barbeque time!" I shot all the fire I could at the bug (Sadly, it was just an Ember. Shame, since I can only use one Hadoken per day, and I can't use any of the more burny Fire-type moves yet), which seemed to weaken it a little bit, however it wasn't out yet.

It buzzed its wings as it began to stand up again, but fate conspired against it to have a fist thrown into its face, which was incidentally set on fire, its weakness. A fist that just happened to belong to me. It collapsed on the ground, bleeding from my Hadoken, as well as burned from the multiple times it had been set on fire by yours truly. Ah, I love my job.

Anyways, my pet human threw a Poke Ball at the Beedrill, which hit and sucked the giant bug inside. The ball shook a few times, then dinged, signaling a catch. My pet human (or my slave, they're interchangeable) picked up the Poke Ball, and of course, did something really, really stupid, which was typical of humans. He let out an extremely pissed Beedrill from the Poke Ball.

"Beedrill! (PERISH!)" It flew at me, huge-ass stingers at the ready. I had to lean almost all the way backwards to dodge it, and even then, the one on its ass managed to scratch me. Luckily, though, there was no poison involved.

Blaze jumped off of my pet's shoulder, into the sun, so the Beedrill had to shield its eyes to see. And that's when he struck. "Quick Attack!"

Blaze sped downwards, and did what few Pokemon and even fewer humans dared to do. He headbutted an angry Beedrill. And knocked it out.

Huh, that's funny. I could have sworn that it smirked for a second there. Must've been my imagination. Either way, it's none of my business.

"Well," said my favorite pet human (and only pet human, considering how disgusting they could be. I mean, not being allowed to kill each other? Hmph. Pacifists.), picking up the bug from where it lay on the ground, managing to avoid the stingers (sadly). "Time to head back to Nagi City."

I groaned. "Not again! I'm still having nightmares about that Grimer…" I shivered. That had _**not **_been fun. Long story short, that Grimer fell for me the instant it (I refuse to call a pile of sludge anything else) saw me. I spent the rest of my time there safe inside my Poke Ball, the lesser of two evils. Speaking of evil…

I sniffed the air. Yep, that human that had been following us since Gromell Town was _still_ there.

"What's wrong, Ash?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong? You have a stalker." Have I mentioned that I'm glad my pet can actually _understand_ me, unlike the rest of his species? That's his only redeeming factor. I repeat, _only_. And it's definitely not because he's an idiot for not letting me kill stuff, although that doesn't help.

It's because he's an idiot for not letting me kill stuff.

There. I said it. In my mind. Where no one can see what I'm thinking…

"He might be a hyperactive pale-haired idiot, but he has his moments." Great. Now _you_ can hear what I'm thinking. "Nope, I've always been able to hear what you're thinking. Which reminds me, why are you narrating this journey to yourself?"

"…None of your business."

"Ah. So, I guess I'll just take your memories, publish them on some website, and earn lots of fame, while you just sit in a corner and cry?"

"…What the hell are you talking about?"

Blaze looked around really sneakily, like he had just said something he shouldn't have. "….Nothing."

Damn, I wish I could read minds. Oh well, I'll take what I can.

…Dammit! I missed! How could I miss such a big target?

"You completely forgot I can read minds, didn't you?" Blaze teased. I punched him again, and he dodged it. Again.

"You're lucky I already used my Hadoken for the day," I muttered, watching the human mutter to himself about the stalker I had told him about out of the corner of my eye.

"More than you know," Blaze replied, speaking like a sage. And there's only one way to deal with sages…other than a Hadoken to the face.

…And I missed again.

* * *

Our merry little group, complete with an unconscious Beedrill, arrived at the Nagi City Pokemon Center soaking wet, thanks to the rain that had decided to unleash itself upon us the moment we came out into the open area of Route 2. I was in the process of trying to restart my flickering tail flame, which was in the process of going out. That would be bad. Basically, if my tail flame goes out, I die. I later found out from Blaze that the instant we stepped in, everyone's eyes flicked to my pet's hair. Iwas too preoccupied with my tail to notice this, however.

And you can't kill stuff if you're dead.

Or mutiliate.

Or kill, then mutiliate.

My human interrupted my thoughts when he spoke to the nurse at the desk, who was pretending not to stare at his hair. "Can you get me some dry wood, for my Charmander?" I glared at him, and he shrunk back a little out of fear. That'll teach him to call me 'his.' He's my slave! MINE!

"Yes, I'll be right back with that," the nurse replied, seemingly not having noticed our little exchange from the way she was still looking at my slave.

I heard the sound of wings buzzing behind me and winced. Crap. The Beedrill's up.

He (I finally found out he's a guy about five minutes before he woke up) went over to my human, and they began talking about something under their breaths. I had to strain my ears just to hear them. "...lo..you...wan...name?"

"Sure...mes...Drez." I quickly pieced together what they were talking about.

Drez...That Beedrill's name is Drez?

Well.

Why couldn't I get a name like that?

Why can my pet understand me?

Is there someone out there, sitting in front of a screen, laughing every time I screw up?

Am I a psychopath?

The answers to those questions are, in order: I have no fuckin' clue; see above; probably; and yes, and proud.

Drez buzzed over to me; thankfully, though, he didn't seem to have any ill feelings about before.

"Hello, young fledgling. How are you on this balmy day? What is your alias that you use in ordinary living conditions?"

"Um…PokeSpeak, please?"

"…I believe that I was articulating in that language."

"I meant without the long words."

* * *

Well, me and Drez got to talking, and I discovered that he was actually pretty nice, although the repeated use of really long words was a bit of a turn-off. He even told me that he had met a Pokemon over by Mt. Moon that sounded kind of like what my slave had been talking about in that really, really long speech of his; I wasn't paying much attention since he wasn't talking about killing. Or stabbing. Or pain. Or the repeated use of all three on him.

…I wonder where Mr. Stabby is?

"Hey look, a knife!" my slave called from the other side of the Pokemon Center. Ah, there's Mr. Stabby. All I had to do was grin insanely and hold my paw out. He got the message when I began pretending to prepare a Hadoken, and dropped Mr. Stabby into my hand.

I had to resist the urge to immediately break out into insane laughter, instead choosing to grin even wider. Excellent…

I turned around, but the damn Riolu was gone. Great. Now how am I going to kill something I hate? Other than my slave, I kind of need him for food. And Drez is out of the question, I can't find the effort to hate him, especially since he told me that the Pokemon by Mt. Moon was an emo.

Emos are my favorite things to kill.

What? They want to die anyway, so why can't I give them what they want?

* * *

**For those of you out there who don't know what the Hadoken is, basically, it's a really big energy attack that I don't own. And, as to why Ash can use it, all will be revealed…when I get around to it. **


	3. Matt's First Battle

Being a human really annoys me sometimes. That's why I prefer being around Pokemon. They don't stare at my white hair, my red eyes, or my ability to understand them. They just take it as it is.

Especially Blaze. He's been my best and only friend since both of us were little kids (kit, for him) trying to walk. Never once has he judged me based on my appearance, although that's probably because he's like me, in that he's a Shiny Riolu, and I'm...well, I'm an albino. We might fight occasionally, but we're still best buds. He's the only human or Pokemon that I've told about my past.

Ash, on the other hand, just wants to kill. He doesn't care about whether it's a human, a Pokemon, or something else; he just wants to be the first one that kills one of everything, human and Pokemon. I'd put him in his Pokeball if I didn't have a no-Pokeball policy, for reasons I will keep to myself for now. Though I can't help but wonder where he got that huge energy attack from.

Drez, though, is something I never would've seen coming: a sociable Beedrill, one with a posh accent, no less! My only problem with him is the fact that he loves using really long and weird words when he talks. I often need to ask him to translate into regular words, which anyone can tell annoys him. I bet he just wants someone he can hold a good conversation with.

All in all, we've got a seriously ragtag team here.

I sighed as I watched the sun go down. The rain that had welcomed our rearrival into Nagi City had finally disappeared in the evening, and Ash had decided to celebrate by trying to stab someone's Porygon in the head.

Note the 'trying.'

Ash had just started his jump when I got to him, and I managed to grab him before he reached the Porygon.

"Aw, come on!" he pleaded as I dragged him off, "just this once!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeease?"

"Still no."

"Come on, I won't stab you later if you let me go!"

"Repeat my last statement in your head."

He went quiet for a moment. Then he smirked. I gulped silently. That could not be a good sign, especially coming from Ash.

"Hey, Maaatt…" he whispered. "Look…It's your boyfriend…Blaze's over there…"

What?

"What?" I shrieked oh-so-smartly, and dropped him. A mistake for the record books.

"DIE!" Ash stabbed the Porygon in the head. Time seemed to slow as the Porygon's head began sparking furiously. Ash gulped. "Fuck..."

* * *

"No food for a week," I told Ash. "You deserve it, even though the explosion it made was pretty cool."

Ash gave me a salute. You can probably guess which one.

"Someone's got PMS," I remarked sourly. He gave me another middle-claw salute and stomped off.

I sighed. It looks like we're going to need to leave soon, what with all the attention my Pokemon were getting. Behind me, Blaze was being adored over by several people who were surprised to see a Riolu; a Shiny one, no less. He didn't seem to appreciate the attention.

"E-excuse me?" a voice stuttered from behind me. "C-can I b-battle w-with you?" The speaker, a young girl who looked to be about ten, was visibly nervous. I couldn't blame her; she was small, at about four-foot-three, compared to my (roughly) five-six. She had dirty-blonde hair with a small hairpiece of an Aipom keeping the hair from going in her eyes. She wore a ragged old gray shirt, with equally-worn jeans. She seemed to be missing the Poke Ball belt that was typically worn, and instead wore a backpack that had definitely seen better days.

"Why the nervousness?" I asked her as kindly as I could.

"W-well, I just started training y-yesterday," she stuttered. "I only h-have one Pokemon right now…"

"That's fine," I replied encouragingly. "Come on, let's go outside."

* * *

Once we got outside, I went over to the nearest training field, beckoning for her to join me. We both went to opposite ends of the field, and the girl pulled a Pokeball out of her backpack.

"G-go, Shinx!" she called, throwing the ball. After the usual light show, a blue and black feline Pokemon appeared out of the confines of the Pokeball.

"Yay! Fight time!" he yelped, jumping up and down in place.

"Th=this is my first battle," she stammered. "P-please g-go easy on m-me."

'Relax kid. This is my first battle too, ever since that incedent. '

I was nervous too, but didn't show it.

"Drez, you're up!" I called, beckoning the Beedrill over from where he was taking a nap.

"Is the sovereign of this boisterous aggregation of imbeciles blithe from being granted the aptitude to command us?" he asked sarcastically.

What?

I had no clue what he just said, and by the look of it, my opponent's Shinx didn't know either, from the look on his face. My opponent definitely didn't know either, since I was told that there's only one person in this world who can speak with Pokemon: me. Speaking of which…

"Hey, what's your name, anyway?" I called across the field to her.

"Tracy!" she called back, transforming into someone completely different from the nervous girl from before on the battlefield.

"Great! My name's Matt!" I called back to her. "Let's get started! Drez, Poison Sting!"

"Affirmative!" Drez flew towards the Shinx, who squeaked and ran out of the way of the attack.

"Shinx, Charge, then Tackle!" called Tracy. Immediately, Shinx turned around and sprinted towards Drez, sparking slightly from the Charge. Drez managed to fly upwards in time to dodge the attack, but Shinx turned around, still sparking, and jumped to him, managing to land the attack on Drez from behind.

Drez managed to right himself in midair before he hit the ground, though, and I decided on my next move.

"Drez, Focus Energy into Fury Attack!" I ordered.

"Roger," Drez replied, managing to land most of the attacks. Shinx was wobbling around unsteadily now, only just managing to stay on its feet.

"Enough!" I yelled. Shinx collapsed gratefully onto the ground and began to lick his wounds clean, as his trainer came over to me from her end of the field.

"H-how was I?" she asked, back to her old nervous personality.

"You were good, actually," I remarked. "The Charge into Tackle move might've been your only move, but it was a good one. Your Shinx seems to be fairly well trained, despite only having been caught yesterday, too." I think Drez is rubbing off on me; that's the only reason I can think of me using so many smart words.

Other than me being possessed.

But, let's not talk about that now, shall we?

I have enough problems without worrying about someone possessing me again.

"Th-thanks," she stuttered back. "M-my brother helped m-me h-him."

"Who's your brother?" I asked curiously.

"The G-gym L-leader of Dayan City, w-why?"

"Nothing, nothing," I replied quickly. 'Evil bastard,' I added in my head. 'I hope he rots in hell.'

I hate that guy a lot, if you didn't realize it. For personal reasons.

* * *

After our meeting with the sister of Dayan City's Gym Leader (in other words, my worst enemy), Blaze decided it would be a good idea to try and take Ash's knife away from him, for 'safety reasons.' Needless to say, that did not go well.

So now we need to stay in Nagi City for an extra night, with nothing to do. I can just see someone dying or getting stabbed painfully by a little orange psychopath. Again.

The only problem is, he's _my_ little orange psychopath.

Fuck.

Now_ I'm_ gonna get blamed.

"Hey! Matt!" Blaze called from the opposite side of the room. "Your girlfriend's leaving! Don't you wanna say bye?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" I yelled back.

"She's your friend, right?"

"Yeah!"

"And she's a girl, right?"

"Yeah…"

"So she's your girlfriend!" Blaze finished, a huge smirk on his face. I facepalmed.

"She's not my girlfriend!" I yelled. Every eye in the Pokemon Center turned to me.

"So, you're suggesting she's a man then?" Blaze asked, sucking up the attention.

I flipped him one and walked off. I heard loud snickers following me down the hallway until I closed the door of the room we were staying in for the night.

As soon as I turned the light, a pair of eyes flicked over to me. Eyes belonging to the one person I'm afraid of.

"Hello…" whispered Ash, stroking his knife ominously. "Nice to see you here…he he he…"

Double fuck.

"Nice seeing you Ash!" I yelled, darting out the door and slamming it.

"Yo."

I whirled around and gasped. Behind me, Ash gave me a weird look as he opened the door to our room and went in.

"Matt…" a voice that seemed to come from nowhere whispered to me.

"Shut up, Blaze!" I yelled.

"Matt…" said the voice again, seeming to be more urgent.

"Go away, voices!" I screamed, holding my head to stop the shaking that had appeared.

"Matt!"

I fell off the couch in the main room of the Pokemon Center onto Blaze, who was shaking me awake.

"Blaze, what…"

"Matt, you were screaming in your sleep, and we drew straws to wake you up," he answered. Drez and Ash waved sheepishly behind him.

"…I hate you guys so much," I groaned.

"We know," Ash answered.

"Especially you."

"Me?" Ash looked shocked. What did I do?"

"Hm…" I pretended to think. "You stabbed me three times, tried to Hadoken me when we were capturing Drez, made a Porygon explode in front of me, tried to sacrifice us all in a satanic ritual last night, stabbed us all again when it didn't work, you made me give you your knife back, and finally, you told me you wanted me to rape you when we got to bed tonight. Yeah, I'd say you hate me."

"Alright," Ash confessed, "I admit to all of those...except for the raping. I think you were high on chocolate when we got here."

"No I wasn't!" I protested. Ash motioned to Blaze, who grabbed several used chocolate wrappers out of the trash. "Okay, maybe I was."

* * *

**(3rd person POV)**

Fred groaned to himself as Molly dragged him and Frankie into Nagi City, with Leaf slowly walking behind them. The two of them had been taking a nap, when Molly had suddenly decided it was a good idea to try to get to Nagi City before nightfall. Personally, Fred didn't care either way about that. He just liked to let his days just slip by; his favorite thing to do all day was to just sit under a tree and stare at the clouds.

It really annoyed him when Molly decided it was time for him to get up from that.

She dragged the two into the city's Pokemon Center, marched over to the front desk, and said, "one room, please!"

The nurse looked apologetic as she answered, "I'm sorry, all of our rooms are taken."

"That's okay, we'll share with someone else!" Molly replied cheerfully; too cheerfully in Fred's opinion.

"Well, okay," said the nurse slowly. "But you'll need to find someone willing to share with you first."

"That's fine!" said Molly dismissively. "We'll find someone."

She dragged Fred, who was complaining to himself softly, and Frankie, who was muttering his name to himself, up the staircase that led to the rooms being used by the trainers staying at the Center.

* * *

I was sitting on the bed, with my head in my hands, when someone knocked at the door of the room I was staying in. I groaned, muttered several swear words under my breath, and went over to the door. When I opened it, two of the people I hated most in the world were behind it, staring at me.

"Why are you two here?" I muttered darkly.

"Everywhere else is full," the girl, I forget her name answered.

"Oh, the classic 'everwhere else is full, huh?" I replied angrily. "Well, this place is full too!"

I slammed the door in their faces as hard as I could.


	4. Enter the Team

**I forgot to say this in chapter 1 so: flames will be used as food for my pet Typhlosion.**

**My Typhlosion, also named Blaze: *charges up a flamethrower***

**Don't mess with the Typhlosion, buddy.**

* * *

"Why did you do that?" I asked as the echoes from the door faded away. "They were telling the truth."

"Doesn't matter," he growled. "I hate them. I hate them, for all they did to me back home."

I sighed mentally. It was always so annoying when Matt got like this, even though I could understand where he was coming from. Those two humans had always been picking on the two of us almost since we met, him for having a genetic disease humans called 'albinism,' and always trying to capture me because I'm a Shiny Pokemon.

Then, he suddenly cheered up. "Hey, Blaze, did you just say they were telling the truth?"

I was confused for a moment. "Yeah, why?"

"How'd you know?" he asked. I thought over my answer for a moment before replying.

"I'm not sure, actually. It's like there was something telling me what they were feeling."

Matt started going back into his semi-hyper mode, which was a relief. I never really liked it when he began being emo a few years ago. Luckily, that was in the past now.

"I think that means you're going to evolve soon!" he exclaimed.

"…Wait, what?" Not one of my smartest moments.

"Lucario are supposed to be able to sense what others are feeling with their aura control," he explained. "It would make sense that you would start to pick up some of their abilities when you're close to evolving."

"…And you knew that, how?" He pointed at his Pokedex in reply. "Ah well, even borrowed knowledge is better than no knowledge at all."

He stared at me oddly for a moment. "…What?"

"Exactly my point." He gave me a death glare. "Don't kill me!" I cried theatrically, "I'm too young to die!"

"Remember how I saved you from that –" He was cut off as I put a paw over his mouth.

"Nothing the readers need to know yet," I muttered. He shut up instantly.

Ash chose that moment to wander back into our room, swaying slightly. Strange, I didn't even notice he'd gone. Not to mention the fact that he's probably drunk.

"Where've you been?" asked Matt. "And why do you smell like a mixture of blood, sweat, booze, and fear?"

"None of your business, slave," he replied tipsily, giving the two of us a very toothy grin. I shivered. Ash sure could be scary sometimes…and psychopathic the rest of the time. I envied Drez. The Beedrill was the only one of our group of weirdoes who Ash didn't seem to hate for no specific reason. But then, Drez could be pretty nice once you got to know him, love of long words notwithstanding.

…Why am I learning?

* * *

"Fucking hell!" Fred swore loudly. Several heads turned towards the duo as they went through the lobby of the Nagi City Pokemon Center.

"Easy, Fred," Molly cautioned, "you're making a scene." Fred turned to her with an angry glare which would have made her run to the hills of she hadn't been used to it.

"No, I will not calm down!" he roared. "Why'd we even go to that freak's room, anyway?"

"All the other rooms were full, remember?" Molly reminded him. "Besides, we had no way of knowing if he was sleeping in the forest or with civilization tonight." Fred grumbled in response.

"Excuse me?" the nurse stationed behind the counter asked timidly. "If you don't mind, you can sleep on the couches for tonight."

Molly and Fred nodded in agreement.

"That sounds like a good idea," Fred remarked. "It can't be any worse than sleeping on the ground."

"Don't remind me." Molly shuddered. So many bug Pokemon…

* * *

I stretched my arms out and yawned. The four of us had fallen asleep watching TV last night, and some of the ways we'd fallen asleep…well, there's only one way to describe it: uncomfortable. Matt was draped over the top of the couch snoring his head off; Ash was curled up under the footrest, his head inches from the bottom; and Drez was slumped in a corner, snoozing quietly.

I was curled up on the couch's arm next to Matt, who (of course) suddenly let out a loud snore when I was in the middle of stretching. I calmly stood up and bitchslapped him awake with Force Palm.

Okay, I lied.

I let out a noise you will never hear from me again and shot up, knocking Matt off the couch. Matt groaned and sat up, rubbing the back of his head.

"Morning!" I said cheerfully. He flipped me off.

A thump and a burst of loud swearing interrupted our glaring contest, and we both looked to see Ash, rubbing the top of his head and letting loose words that would make a sailor blush.

"…Someone's angry this morning." Ash gave me another middle-claw salute and sat up, still cussing.

A knock at the door about ten minutes later finally made him shut up. "Room service!"

Matt was about to answer it when I held him back.

"Pokemon Centers don't have room service!" I hissed. "It's a trap!"

"Aw, lay off, Blaze," he replied. "Maybe it's a new thing for Pokemon Centers!"

I facepalmed. "Matt, you're a moron. There are how many people out there who hate you and me?"

"Lots…" he slowly replied.

"So don't you think it's suspicious when a Pokemon Center, which normally doesn't have room service, has a room service I don't recall you being up to order?"

"Well, when you put it that way…"

The person at the door knocked again. "Last call for room service!"

"Quick! The window!" I hissed. We all our asses (Ash woke Drez up with a nonlethal Ember) over to the nearest window and Matt removed it from the frame.

Drez flew out first, followed by Ash and Matt, both bending their legs to absorb the impact. I followed them just as a trio dressed completely in black ran into the room. As soon as my feet hit the ground I rolled into the shadows next to the building and prayed to Arceus that the men wouldn't look down.

Having gold fur really sucked sometimes.

As quietly as I could I snuck over to a tree planted in the shadows of the Pokemon Center. From there I stole from tree to tree until I was in the forest behind the Pokemon Center.

It's times like this I have to thank Mew about our region's climate, which due to it being perfect for plants to grow, there were forests almost literally _**everywhere**_ in Ikanau. The only places where there aren't any trees are in buildings and in caves. And guess what happens when there are lots of plants in a region?

If you guessed lots of Grass-types, go get yourself a cookie. You earned it for being _so _smart. Notice my sarcasm. But I'm getting sidetracked.

I could hear the men growling from my vantage point about ten yards into the forest. One of them, the leader most likely, was saying something into a radio. It's just too bad it's too big of a risk for me to peek out from my hiding place, since they would see me instantly. Having the talent of reading lips helps if you can actually see someone's lips.

I began to back away as quietly as I could; which basically meant as slow as a Slugma, except watching where I'm going. I was doing good, too, until I got about ten yards back and my ass touched something. Something warm. Something that probably wanted to stab me now.

"Ash!" I squeaked, giving him a man hug. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but it sure is good to see you!"

His only reply was slowly reaching for the sheath of his knife. I got off of him quickly.

"Where's Matt and Drez?" I hissed. He shrugged.

"I dunno, we all split up after we went out the window."

I was suddenly struck with the random urge to throw something out a window.

"Well, I think we should go find them."

"Fine, as long as I get to stab something along the way."

"Sure, you can stab…uh…" I quickly looked around. "That guy!" I pointed to Random Expendable Background Character Number 1.

"That guy?"

"This guy?" asked the guy, pointing to himself.

"Yes, that guy." Ash grinned. REBCN1 gulped.

* * *

"Well, all thanks to you, we had about five less minutes to get away from there, but I think we got away from them," I muttered as Ash cleaned his knife off.

"It was five minutes well spent," he replied as he finished up. I stared at him.

"Did you just…"

Ash looked shocked. "I think I just did."

I've got nothing against Drez, but hearing someone else say something like that made me instantly think of him.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," I muttered, "but we need more crazy people in our group."

Ash nodded. "This isn't hell without some people making it hell for you."

I looked around. "How about…that guy!" I pointed to a Vulpix that was giving us an odd look. It looked like it was fighting the urge to run from the weirdoes that had just noticed it.

"I'm a girl…" she said in a feminine voice.

"Sorry. I'll start over. How about…that girl!" I pointed to her again.

"…I have a name, you know," she said, clearly very disturbed.

"Okay then…What's your name?"

"My name is Grace," she muttered. She suddenly shot up. "REMEMBER IT WELL, BITCHES!"

I gave Ash the thumbs-up. "She'll do."

"I NEVER DO A DAMN THING FOR YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!" She was practically spitting fire at this point.

"…I'm afraid to try and lure her somewhere," I whispered.

"Hey what are you two doing oh you're having a huddle okay can I join please please please I'll be your best friend for eternity if you let me join your huddle SQUIRREL!" She whirled in a random direction and stared, not moving a muscle.

"…She's perfect," I whispered. I raised my voice. "Hey, Grace!" She didn't even twitch. That is, until one of her tails blew in front of her face.

"I want it!" She began chasing her tails in a circle for the next five minutes, while Ash and I sweatdropped.

"…Where's Matt when you need him?"

A red and white sphere flew out of nowhere and hit the Vulpix, who was finally taking a break from chasing her tails. The ball didn't even shake, it instantly dinged.

"…Oh, there he is," I said as my good buddy (and rival, and brother, and person I love to insult, and…you get the point) Matt came out of the bushes to our right. He grabbed the Pokeball, and I somehow knew exactly what was coming…

"I got a Vulpix!" he yelled, striking a cheesy pose in front of a backdrop that had appeared out of nowhere.

"You're also a moron," said Drez, coming from the same place Matt had, and also saying the first sentence I had ever heard him say without him needing to translate it. Matt pouted.

"Aw, come on, you know you want to join me!"

"Not even for the sharpest knife in the world," stated Ash. I couldn't agree more.


	5. Grace the Vulpix

**I'M BAAACK! With another chapter dealing with our favorite (well, mine anyway) psychopath. Enjoy. And I swear that I'm going to make these things longer, sometime.**

* * *

I really think I'm starting to like this new Vulpix. Within two seconds of my pet letting her back out of her ball, she had chased her tail again, shouted at us for disturbing her peace, and given Blaze a hug and kiss. Again, two seconds. There was only one thing any of us could say.

"…What the fuck?" I was totally confused. How could someone do all that in that amount of time? It's insane! And it also happens to be our group's normal luck.

...And now she's chasing her tails again. I swear, stuff like her just shouldn't drink coffee. It might give them enough energy to power a couple of human cities.

Blaze gave me a long stare.

"What?" I asked.

"You did this. You made karma make her appear and then you asked where Matt was, making karma make him appear! This is all your fault!"

I shrugged. "Denial. I remember in the last chapter that you were begging the author to add her to the team."

"I…you…she…fine!" He threw his hands in the air in exasperation. I chuckled.

"Face it, Blaze, you can't win. Even if you do win, remember who you're talking to." He gulped.

"Right, I'll just be…over there…" He started edging away from me slowly. Wise move, I had different ideas, though.

"What do you think about her?" I jabbed my thumb at the Vulpix, who was now screaming at my slave to give her chocolate. Blaze raised an eyebrow (figuratively, since Riolus don't have eyebrows (at least, I don't think they do. And I'm not going to check.)).

"I think she's either bipolar, or she's insane." I pulled out my knife. "But she's fine! She's fine!" Then came something I really should have seen coming.

"YOU!" said she-demon screeched in my ear. "GET ME SOME ICE CREAM!"

"Ow…" I jabbed a claw in my ear and twisted it to try and get the ringing out of there. It wasn't working.

"Why should I get you ice cream?" I asked when the ringing finally went away. She looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"You hate me! I'm never going to speak to you again!" She was about to punch me, then remembered she was a quadruped, so she…tried to…DAMMIT!

Aw, screw it. I can't kill Drez. He's one of maybe three people I can't really find any willingness to kill, even if he gives you a disease I like to call annoyinglylongwordusingitis just by talking to him.

It took about ten minutes for my slave to get everything for us to leave together, and we finally hit the road. Except, I get the feeling there's something we're forgetting…

"Hey! Freak!"

Oh, right.

"What?" my pet sighed as he turned around to talk to Thingamajig and Moron (I know that's not their real names, but I wasn't paying attention when they were introduced, and besides, they fit so much better, don't ya think?), who both had extremely grumpy looks on their faces that I had to resist the urge to claw off. I don't think that would have gone too well.

"You. Battle. Now," Thingamajig snapped.

"…Why?"

"Because you left us to sleep on the couch in the middle of the Pokemon Center!" Moron snapped as harshly as his girlfriend.

I turned to Blaze. "Can I?" His response was a shrug.

"Be my guest." I smiled and slowly slid my knife out of its sheath on my back.

* * *

" – and I demand compensation for your Charmander attacking me without provocation!" Thingamajig was bitching as her boyfriend wrapped her leg in bandages. My pet, though, smiled.

"What should I compensate you for? You were the one who attacked me first, you've been using violence on me for years, and you tried to get me to double battle you when all I did was do what I've been doing for the past several years," he smirked. "The only thing I can think of is your ugliness, but you have your mother to thank for that."

"GO!" Thingamajig grabbed a Pokeball from her pocket and threw it. Out popped a tiny green bird.

"…I want to die…"

"Mothra, use Night Shade!" the bitch screamed. The Natu reluctantly complied, and glared at me. Its eyes seemed to glow mesmerizingly black, and I couldn't tear my eyes from them. Then, suddenly –

"Now, Zack, use Tackle!" A tiny green mushroom thing slammed into my side, and I was forcefully torn away from the Natu's creepy eyes.

"Let's go, Grace!" my slave called. The Vulpix shot off an Ember at Moron's Shroomish, and I added my own Ember into the mix. It screamed as the fire darts hit it and fainted, charred more than a little. Moron returned it to its ball.

"Go, Frankie!" Moron called, throwing another ball. His Squirtle flew out, saw me, and instantly tried going back in. Moron would have none of this, though.

"Use Bubble!" Genius, kid. Calling out your attacks gives me the chance to know what's coming. I guess that's why my pet doesn't yell them out, and leaves us to do our own thing, only switching us out when needed. Wait, am I actually thinking good thoughts about my slave? NO! BAD ASH! BAD!

My mental chat was enough to give my opponent the chance to fire off a bunch of bubbles at me. I felt some pain, but not a lot. I slowly unsheathed my knife. Frankie noticed instantly.

"Oh, fuck. I give! I surrender!" he cried. The Squirtle ran over to his human and tapped the button on his ball. I cackled as he ran away. The human just smirked, though.

"Go, Timmy!" An Aipom appeared, grinning creepily as all Aipom seem to do. "Sand-attack, then Astonish!" The Aipom complied by throwing sand that had appeared out of nowhere, considering we were battling on grass. Most of it missed, though some of it still got in my eyes. I rubbed them, trying to get the sand out, and finally got enough of it out that I could open them, only to see a grinning face inches from mine.

"Hi!"

I let out a manly shriek and backpedaled straight into something small and furry. Grace.

"GET OFF ME, YOU COCKSUCKING BASTARD!" I did so instantly. "DIE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Grace fired an Ember that was more like a Flamethrower in its power. The Aipom didn't stand a chance, and went down, clutching its head and screaming random crap. Grace charged off, into the fray, and I felt sorry for anyone she decided to fry. Say, for example, the Swablu that Thingamajig was screaming her lungs out at.

"Bit overkill, don't you think?" Blaze asked from behind me startling me only slightly. My paw just happened to slip back and hit him in the face out of surprise. Yep, surprise. Nothing scary about Blaze…

"Ahem." Crap, I was dealing with someone who could read minds, wasn't I? "Yep."

I'm scared now.

* * *

After we whipped both of their asses, Moron and Thingamajig went and bitched some more, this time to a person in a blue uniform nearby. I poked Blaze. "Who's that?"

"That's Officer Jenny," he hissed in reply. "The humans seem to make clones of them and the nurses in Pokemon Centers. The Jennys are this place's police force."

I slapped him. "Dude, not funny."

"Excuse me," the officer said to my pet, "those people wish me to arrest you for cheating during a Pokemon Battle." Moron and Thingamajig gave my slave the evil eye behind her back. He was undeterred (gonna kill that giant bee…), though.

"How did I cheat?" he asked. "If anyone cheated in that battle, it was them. They challenged me to a double battle, and then proceeded to send out all of their Pokemon at once against two of mine." He indicated me and Grace. The officer appeared to think for a moment, while I prepared my knife, and the idiot duo were quick to notice.

"He had a knife!" The officer gave my pet a look.

"What? Calling that cheating would be the same as calling Marowak's bone and Farfetch'd's leek cheating! Hell, it'd be the same as calling Pokemon claws illegal, they're the same sharpness!"

"Well…um…I'll just…" She closed her mouth and went to tell her compatriots (seriously, Drez?) what my pet had said. As she spoke to the idiots, I saw their grins slide away. Hilarious.

Oh look, they're starting to get pissed. My day has been made.

I began whistling when they turned to face me. I don't know why, but I did, and it only seemed to make them even more pissed than they were (which was a lot – I could see how red they were from almost fifty feet away, with sight worse than a goddamn human's). Perfect.

I turned away to hide my grin, which Blaze seemed to catch on to.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked. I mentally aimed a .45 Caliber, nickel plated revolver at Blaze, and blew his brains out through a hole in the center of his head. I then pumped five rounds into his lifeless body. I finally did the river stomp around his dead body.

"Boats, I was thinking about boats."

* * *

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No!"

"Please?"

"NO!"

"Please?"

"_**NO!**_"

"Please?"

"What part of bold italics with underline don't you understand?" I shrieked. Grace was still giving me the kicked Growlithe look, though. I sighed, and ran a hand down my face.

"Fine, you can go." Grace cheered and zoomed off down the street, all three fluffy tails disappearing as though they'd never been there. It was then that my pet came up behind me, right when I was just trying to look at the city, which was finally drying off from its impromptu (...) shower last night. The city was small, almost a town, actually. Very plain, too; the main color seemed to be gray, gray, and more gray. Where was I again? Oh yeah, my slave came up behind me and asked the question I had been mentally begging him to ask.

"Where's she going?" I grinned my favorite grin.

"Don't you know what girls and money equals by now? Especially your money?"

He thought about it for a moment. And thought. And thought. I was getting bored and considering leaving him there, when he finally answered.

"She buys useless crap she'll make us carry and will only slow us down in the long run?"

I grinned again, even wider this time. "Bingo. Check your wallet."

He reached into his backpack, confused, and rummaged around. His eyes widened. "Ash, you didn't –"

"I did, and I don't regret it."

I could swear someone in Hoenn could hear him scream then.

* * *

**And we're finally getting out of Nagi City next chapter! I swear I'm not going to drag it out any longer. I'm not that cruel.**

**In case any of you were wondering, no, I am NEVER doing a chapter from Drez's point of view. It takes me about five minutes just to write one of his quotes, because I have to pick up a thesaurus every other word. But, I WILL do one from his POV if I get enough encouragement, just don't expect it for a while. Like, at least a month.**


	6. Leaving the city

**Chapter 1 was rewritten. End of news.**

* * *

I'm really starting to get annoyed with that Vulpix. Do you know where she was when I found her again? All of you that have ever had a girlfriend know what I'm going to say here.

Grace was in the accessories section of Nagi City's one and only clothes store, eyeing a pink scarf, which had three scarlet-colored stripes running down its length. Overall, it was very pretty.

Pretty expensive, that is.

I eyed the price tag with distaste. It was going to put a large dent into my funds, especially considering Fred and Molly both refused to pay me after our battle; 1000 bucks'll do that to you. But then Grace played the trump card. She looked at me with big, sad, Growlithe eyes. Eyes that would make a cold-blooded killer go "Awww!" I really couldn't resist after that.

"Fine, you can have the scarf," I sighed. Grace let out a bark.

"Yay! I get a scarf! I love you all! I WILL FUCK YOU ALL!"

I started backing away from the demented Vulpix. "Settle down, Grace. Settle down." You wouldn't believe me if I told you how scary she looked at that moment. Think Darkrai's worst nightmare, times a hundred. That'll get you about…oh…a third of the way there, maybe?

"It's no use," the now-sober Vulpix sighed. "My life is at its end. There is nothing left for me to do."

I hesitantly reached a hand down to pat her head. "…There there?"

She purred and started rubbing my hand. Then she bit it.

"OW! SON OF A BITCH!"

I gulped as the heads of every single other person in the store turned to look at us.

"Ummm…we'll just be going now…" I began ushering Grace out the door, praying she would forget about the scarf, but –

"Maaatt! My scarf!"

"Taken care of!" I hissed, motioning to the window, where a tail with a flame on the tip could be seen for all of an instant.

"**You'd better have,**" she growled, back to scary mode.

* * *

"Well, that trip went nowhere," I remarked as we got to the city park, where we'd agreed to meet once we'd all finished our businesses. "All it got us was probably a ban from ever going in that shop again. Arceus, why does this always happen to me?"

"Well, me and Drez and Blaze don't hate you, **but Ash and I do.**"

Crap. The only thing that was registering with my mind at that moment. I could only pray to whatever legendaries that didn't hate me that I would survive until tomorrow, what with Ash and Grace. Ho-oh seemed like a good start. I think I've already used up all of my prayers to Mew.

'Please, Ho-oh, let me survive until tomorrow, so that I may be able to piss off Fred and Molly.'

(**No.**)

Dammit!

Wait…

Where did that voice come from? Cause it sounded like I just heard a voice coming from my head.

(**It did come from your head. Remember me?**)

Fuck you, Mew.

(**Aw, is that any way to treat the one who saved your life?**)

Yes. Yes it is.

(**Well, I didn't come here to annoy you, anyways.**)

Well, that's a surprise.

(**Shut up and listen. I don't have long, so I'm going to make this quick: there's a human that's trying to become a god and rule the world, just like every other story out there. But she's someone very closely related to you. Any questions before I go, I left the tub running.**)

Damn you, Mew. Damn you.

(**Good enough. Hasta la vista!**)

…Is she gone?

(**Nope!**)

Someone wake me up from this nightmare!

"OW!"

I held my face as I looked up at Grace.

"What the hell was that for?"

"You were making funny faces!" she giggled. "Just like those guys over there!" She jabbed a paw at a group of three men that were looking at me with interest from a nearby table. Each of them had the build of a sailor, even though the nearest port was two towns away.

"Hey!" one of them yelled in my direction. "What're ya doing?"

"Sitting here," I replied.

"That's a nice Vulpix ya got there!"

"Thanks, her name's Grace! OW!" She bit me on the arm. "My name's not Grace, it's Saint Lawrence von Studorsmith III!"

"Not well trained, is she?"

"No, she's bipolar."

"How d'ya know?"

In response, I pointed down at Grace, who was snoozing on my lap, as if she hadn't just bitten me and lectured me on her name.

"Ah."

"So, what're you doing today?" I asked.

"We're waitin' for the boss to come back! He was supposed to be back by now."

"Why, what was he doing?"

"I bet he was goin' for a beer! I could use a beer right now." The other two men nodded their approval.

"Well, we've gotta get going," I said sadly. The men were starting to grow on me, even though I'd only known them for a couple of minutes.

"Where ya goin'?" a second man asked.

"We're going to Dayan City, I've got a gym battle there," I answered.

"Good luck, dude!" the third one said cheerfully. "You're gonna need it, that guy's tough!"

"Thanks!" I replied, picking up Grace ("Hey! I was dreaming here!) and my bag.

* * *

"That guy was nice," the third man stated after I'd left.

The second nodded in agreement. "Yep, he was."

"Wasn't he the guy the boss was lookin' for?" the first man spoke up.

The other two thought for a moment. "…Yeah, I think he was," muttered the second.

"Boss is gonna kill us!" the third moaned, holding his head.

It was then that the area around the men seemed to freeze, as if Articuno herself had arrived. "…Kill you for what?"

The men whirled around. "Oh, Boss, we weren't –"

"Silence." The men gulped in fear. "I am on my last nerve with you three, so I suggest you tell me what you were talking about. _Now_."

* * *

So, Mew, where to now? Some abandoned mansion filled with ghost Pokemon that'll scare the crap out of us? Again?

(**No, silly! Just keep doing what you're doing!**)

…So, Dayan City?

(**You're no fun.**)

I aim to please. Matt out!

(**NO! DON'T - **)

I finally blocked the annoying psychic cat out of my head, only to see the others staring at me like they were trying not to run for their lives from the crazy dude.

"What? Ask Blaze, he knows."

Stares at me turned to glares at Blaze, only to turn into looks of confusion. He'd disappeared. That's funny…I could have sworn he was right here –

"Hey, want some ice cream?" An ice cream cone was jabbed into my face and I nearly stepped on Ash's tail in shock. He glared at me, then began talking to it in a low voice. Then he started stroking it, and hugging it, and kissing it and...

Ew.

That was plain weird.

* * *

Drez began staring at me as we got closer to the city. I tried to ignore him by talking to Blaze as we went through them, but he kept staring. It was made even creepier by the fact that he had no eyelids. And crimson red eyes. And three giant stingers.

Mommy.

After ten minutes of this, I finally whirled on him. "What?"

"Your contemporaries of legendary descent have adjudicated that we must adjust our course to a new objective."

I blinked. "English, please."

He sighed longingly. "I said, we need to change directions."

I blinked again, this time in realization. "Oh. Well, where do we need to go now?"

"Long or short answer?"

My pick was obvious. "Short."

"Fine… Your friend is being hunted." This was said with just a hint of a smirk, though I didn't catch it at the time.

I glanced at Blaze, who was trying to talk to Grace. Grace, though, was being herself. Impossible at best, insane at worst. "The only danger I see is Grace going psycho and killing him, and that could happen to any of us."

"I meant your other best friend," Drez said with a sigh. I blinked for a third time.

"…He's my only friend."

"You may not acknowledge it," he said, as if talking to a toddler (HEY!), "but you like her."

"Well, that rules out Mew, along with about seven billion other people on the planet," I muttered grumpily. "And I don't really have any Pokemon friends, other than you people."

"Your friend from the lab," he pressured. "Mew told me," he added at my raised eyebrow.

"Oh… Her… I haven't seen her for almost eight years," I said with a sigh. "I don't know if I can count her as a friend anymore. She's probably forgotten me already."

"Well, due to the…circumstances of your birth, both of you should be able to remember each other," he replied, resting a stinger on my shoulder. "Think about it. In the meantime, I'd suggest getting a move on. The others are getting away."

He buzzed off, leaving me with only my thoughts and memories of a friend from long ago.

* * *

Drez smirked to himself as he flew off. Everything was going smoothly.

* * *

**So, Matt has a long-lost girlfriend, maybe? Who knows? ME OF COURSE! **


	7. Companions

Crap. What should I do? I trailed behind the rest of the group and pondered what I should do next.

I've heard from wild Pokemon in that city we were at yesterday that Team Whateverthehelltheirnameis lets Pokemon go wild and kill whatever they want. That sounds pretty nice.

But then…

Whenever I even begin to consider changing sides, I think about Drez. My best friend in this team of Pokemon, the giant bee. He'd be so disappointed in me if I ever decided to join Team…something.

I'm becoming weak. There's no way around it. When that damn human stole me, the only things I've been able to train on are the local trees. My claws became dull. My mind got used to living without killing.

No. I'm not becoming weak. I _am_ weak.

Shit. What'll big brother think of me now? Will he ignore me, like the rest of the tribe?

I just don't know. And I'm probably not getting the answers anytime soon.

I thought of my big brother, who was so nice to everyone he met, the polar opposite of me. I thought of the rest of the tribe, their kind smiles giving me some measure of warmth. And then I thought of the humans that had taken me from my home.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. No. Can't think of that now. I've got a new life. New friends/slaves/stabbing dummies. I have to forget them all. Even if it hurts.

Forget them.

(**Aw, someone's sad.**) The sudden voice in my head made me start.

"Wha?"

(**Be quiet, you. You're the last one I'm introducing myself to in your group.**)

"Then…who are you?"

(**Think your answer, mate. As to who I am, well…**)

I could almost hear the voice steeple its fingers.

(**I am Mew, the almighty. Mew, the brave. Mew, the genius. Mew, the-**)

Yeah, yeah, I get it, you're conceited. Carry on.

(**I love you too, Ash. Now, I'm going to tell you what I told the other members of your group. By the way, the others think you're doing that to yourself, you know that?**)

I stopped flipping my head the bird.

(**Good. Now…**)

That was the point I stopped paying attention to Mew, and he could have been talking about barbeque for all I knew or cared.

* * *

"Ow…" I moaned loudly. Who knew Mew could give someone a headache when he wasn't even there?

Obviously not me.

"Hey, Ash! Hurry up!" Blaze called from up ahead, where the rest of my servants had gotten away…from…me…

They must pay.

I screamed a war cry that made several armies piss themselves as I charged after them, charging up a Hadoken the entire time.

* * *

"Senor Koffing Del Toro has the most upbeat, optimistic nature of any Pokemon before or since, whether it be crossing a road, drinking some tea, bobbing his head, getting sucker punched in the gut, suffering violent diphtheria or worse, Koffing would respond with a smile, a bob of his head and proud proclamation of... **"KOFFING!"**"

We all looked at Blaze like he'd gone insane. Actually, scratch that. He probably has.

"No, seriously, this, my friends, is the greatest Pokemon that ever was and ever will be. Koffing, greatest of the greats, happiest of the happy, the most lovable, huggable, sweet, good natured Pokemon of all time. God bless, Koffing. God bless."

"Has he ever done this before?" Grace hissed to Matt.

"Yeah, once after he'd chugged four bottles of warm Gatorade," Matt whispered back. "But we don't have Gatorade right now."

"Could it be something else, then?"

"Nah, that's the only thing that gets him to act weird, normally. But…" he trailed off, and I saw him thinking. "It might be…But it can't…"

"WHAT?"

Everyone within earshot, except Blaze, winced and covered their ears at the high-pitched shriek that no one should be able to reach, let alone hear.

"Ow… Anyways, it might be…"

"**Cut the crap and tell us.**" I could feel the sheer evil in the air after she said that. Matt gulped, and rightfully so.

"…Withdrawal symptoms?"

What. The. Hell?

"He does that when he doesn't have waffles for too long," he continued.

"He had them for breakfast two days ago!"

"That's too long."

I sighed, and finally spoke up. "Can we please just give the dog some waffles? Please? Before I hurt things?"

"We're out," my slave replied, turning the bag upside-down. Nothing fell out. "We never restocked the food."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Blaze, grabbing him by the shirt and shaking him. "WE MUST HAVE WAFFLES! WE MUST! WE MUSTTT!"

…How the hell did he just say that?

"Easy, Blaze, just chill. Chill…"

"NEVER! I WILL NEVER FACE THE SYSTEM! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

"SHUT UP!" shrieked Grace, going redder in the face than I thought would be possible.

"MAKE ME!"

"FINE!" Grace spat an Ember at him, which he jumped over, and retaliated with a Quick Attack. Grace was sent reeling, but she soon recovered, sending a Will-O-Wisp at him, hitting him on the arm and burning him. I winced at the sight of it; his arm was charred black where the fire had hit him.

He shook it off and charged forward for a Force Palm, only to miss. He quickly recovered and Feinted, suceeding in making Grace attempt to dodge, only to be met with a Force Palm to the face.

She rolled as she hit the ground, making the follow-up Force Palm miss, and fired an Ember. It hit Blaze in the eye.

"BITCH!" Blaze screamed at her, clutching his eye. "GO TO HELL!"

She Roared at him, the force of it making his gold-colored fur stand on end. He whimpered.

"…Mommy…"

* * *

I glanced at Blaze and winced at the sight of him. The fight between him and Grace had gone downhill for him after she'd given him that Roar. Basically, she gave him an asskicking that made ours of the Whiney Duo seem tame in comparison.

In short, he looked like a mess.

His blood-matted fur stuck up randomly, with several random patches ripped out. There was a cut between his eyes that was dribbling the red liquid onto his snout. Grace had also broken both of his arms, "BECAUSE YOU'RE A FUCKING BRAT!" He now had both arms in slings, crossed over his chest. She had also broken one of his legs, said legs (his left one) being in a cast. And that's not even counting all the assorted cuts and slashes from her claws that made him seem like he'd just walked through a hail of shrapnel from a grenade.

Needless to say, my faithful slave was carrying him.

Blaze was sitting on his backpack, slings wrapped around his neck so that he wouldn't fall off. Matt looked like he wanted to complain about the extra forty pounds of dead weight, but held off, mostly because he was the only one strong enough to carry him.

Pity, I wanted to burn him when he started doing so.

Grace was strutting in front of them, a smug look on her red-furred face. Speaking of Grace, my pet had gotten her some pill at…um…whatever human dwelling we were at for the past few chapters. Basically, (I wasn't paying attention when he and Drez were explaining how they worked. Drez had gone into his ball in a huff afterwards, with what seemed like a reluctant look from my slave.) those pills stopped Grace from having her… mood swings, as long as she took one at breakfast every day.

I really liked it when she was beating up Matt and Blaze for her breakfast, too. Sigh… Maybe I'll get her not to take it sometime. That'll be fun. I can just imagine the pain for the others...

* * *

The man tailing the group, who was now dressed in black, had gotten a lucky break that day. As he was now downwind of the group, instead of upwind, as they had been traveling for the past few days, he could get closer to them without the Pokemon alerting his target of his presence. He picked up the radio, casually taking his eyes off of the people he had been ordered to follow. After all, the spy they'd inserted into their midst would be taking care of the watching for him."Boss?"

A growling, menacing voice answered him. "Yes?"

"Reporting in, sir…"

* * *

"Sigh… Oh well, at least my Rattata's awesome! It's in the top percentage of Rattata, after all! Do you want my number?"

I could tell this would not end well.

"Sure," my slave answered, pulling something out of his backpack that was hidden from my sight by the kid he had just beaten.

"Great!" announced the kid. "I'll keep you updated on how my Rattata's doing!"

Matt smiled, but I frowned. Again, this could not end well. I could just feel it.

* * *

(**That night**)

I yelled as something rang out next to my ear, waking me up from my nap.

"Sorry Ash," my slave apologized, taking the thing making the noise (which I later learned to be called a 'phone.' Arceus, humans are weird.) and opening it. "Hello, this is Matt."

"Hi Matt, it's me, Joey! Just calling to tell you how awesome my Rattata is! Bye!"

My pet smiled at the young trainer's naivety before rolling over and going back to sleep.

* * *

(**The next morning**)

"Hi Matt, it's me, Joey! I'm just calling to tell you that my Rattata is in the top percentage of Rattata! Bye!"

My slave just frowned slightly at the phone before putting it back in his pocket and moving on.

* * *

(**Two hours later**)

"Hi Matt, it's me again! I just got bored of the silence here, so I decided to call you and talk about my Rattata! Bye!"

Matt shot the phone a small glare before sticking it in his backpack and walking on. I snickered; that wouldn't keep Ratty-Boy away.

* * *

(**Five seconds later**)

"Me again!"

"It's meeee!"

"Rattata is awesome!"

"You're a Rattata? I never knew!"

"I love you!"

"Fresh pizza!"

"Rattata!"

"ARGH!" Matt screamed as he threw his phone at the wall. "It never ends!"

Blaze patted him on the back as well as he could with a pair of slings and a cast. It calmed him down pretty well, enough for him to be able to form a plan.

"Ash, kill youngster Joey."

Good enough for me.

* * *

Youngster Joey screamed as I jumped out of the tree next to him, him wetting his pants and me screaming and shrieking, claws slashing, tail-slapping, and throwing fire everywhere.

And that's how we ended up in jail. Apparently, assault is a crime. Even if they deserved it. Son of a bitch.


	8. Jailed

**Well, NaNoWriMo is over, and here's your new chapter of Creator Failure as your reward for your patience.**

* * *

"Well, this sucks," Matt muttered as he leaned against the wall of his cell. Understatement of the century, in my opinion.

After we had been arrested, the police had seen fit to throw us in the nearest jail; namely, the Dayan City Jail, since we had only been a few hours from reaching the city when they'd gotten to us.

Or, it _seemed _like it was the Dayan City Jail. So far, I had yet to see another prisoner in the place. You'd think there would be more people here, this being a big city and all.

"I still don't get why I was arrested too," he continued. "I didn't even do anything!"

"Guilty by association?" suggested Blaze, getting up from where he had been sitting on the floor. "Besides, you were the one that told Ash to kill Youngster Joey."

"Yeah, cause he wouldn't stop calling me! Why didn't they get him too?"

"Because his filthy rich parents got him the best lawyer they could find." I snorted. "Assholes, using their money and lack of parental vision to spoil their kid. I bet the guy's never had anyone say no to him."

"You would not be the proper aspirant for alleging that, although it is plausibly indubitable," said Drez, from where he was sitting against the wall opposite us, cradling Grace, who had not exactly cooperated when those humans came and threw us in here. Of course, neither was I, but they quickly muzzled and bound me. Grace, on the other hand, was pretty weak, when compared to the rest of us. One bright spot of getting arrested, though, was when they'd finally thought that Grace was going to go quietly, when her bipolar side kicked in and started freaking out. That was fun. I was clutching my sides in laughter at the sight of Grace attempting to strangle one of the officers with one of her tails.

But then the guy closest to me had to go and ruin my fun, by way of a muzzle over my snout.

Bastard.

I was sad. I couldn't bite anyone anymore. Then they decided to loosen it a little bit, just enough so that I could breathe and talk, with some effort. I still couldn't open my jaws enough to actually bite, though.

I was forced back into the present by the door to my cell opening. "You, the Charmander. Out."

"Coming, officer!" I called sweetly, though I knew he couldn't understand me. "I'll be good, please don't punish me!" Blaze snickered behind me, and even Drez let out a small chuckle.

"Is that Charmander making fun of me?" I heard the officer mutter.

"Don't know, mate. I can't speak Pokemon," the other replied.

"And don't I love it," I muttered. As I stepped out of the cell, the two officers swooped down upon me, simultaneously applying another muzzle and a pair of handcuffs.

"March," one of them ordered, shoving me in the back for emphasis. I began whistling as they marched me off.

The last thing I ever saw of my friends was Blaze and Matt simultaneously flipping the two officers off behind their backs, which brought a smile to my face.

Little did I know what was going to happen next.

* * *

I was frog-marched into a room filled with white. Everywhere I looked, there was white. White walls, white floors, white windows, white lab coats…

Wait, lab coats?

Shit.

I began to struggle, to try and escape from the people who had dragged me in here. And thanks to my being handcuffed, I couldn't unleash a Hadoken at them. But I tried anyway.

It didn't work.

They simply held my hands and feet in place as I tried to thrash around and strapped them onto the operating table in the center of the room. Then, one of the scientists went over to a cabinet, opened it, and took out a needle.

A needle.

Holy. Fucking. Crap.

I. Hate. Needles.

The sight of the needle only made me thrash around more, but it only made one of the scientists smile.

"Ah, a lively one this time. Perfect. It will only make things that much more fun."

He slowly walked over to me, holding the needle like a deadly weapon. Then, once he got to me, he pressed it into my arm even more slowly, almost gently if not for the pain that came with it being pushed into my arm.

The next thing I saw was darkness.

* * *

"Hey," Blaze hissed at Drez. Drez ignored him. "Hey!"

"What is it that an ignoramus such as you desires to know?"

"Aren't you worried? I mean, Ash's been gone for a while now. What if they're experimenting on him or something?"

"…They most likely are."

"I'd make a fourth-wall-breaking joke here, but this situation is serious!"

"Who said it wasn't?" asked Matt.

"You're all imbeciles who deserve nothing less than an apocalypse upon your heads," Drez muttered. "I'm taking a nap. Don't wake me up." And he promptly put his head against the wall and seemed to go to sleep. Grace yawned from in between his spears and sat up, blinking like an owl.

"What'd I miss?"

There was a sudden buzzing noise as the rest of the group turned around to see Drez activating his wings.

"You have missed the imminence of Ash's betrayal," he said in a tone that had evil filling its every crack.

Everyone around him gulped in fear.

"Um... Drez, buddy? What're you doing?" asked Blaze, his voiced quivering in his terror.

"Doing what I should have done a long time ago." A drop of poison gleaming from Drez's spears was their only warning before he attacked the other Pokemon.

Matt could only sit in the cell opposite them and watch as Drez beat his former teammates into oblivion, before inserting one of his spears into the lock of his cell. One jiggling later, the door was unlocked, and Drez was coming at Matt, killing intent pouring out of every crack of his being.

* * *

"Ungh… what hit me?" I moaned. I sat up and rubbed my head, silently cursing at my headache. "Where am I?"

Then I paused.

When I tried to remember what had happened, nothing but a black hole came to me. So I tried to remember more, yet all I could was darkness.

Including my name.

"Who…am I? What am I?"

I spun around at the sound of a door opening behind me. A human in a white coat walked in, hands in the air in a 'please don't kill me!' gesture.

"Who… who are you?"

"Ah, you're awake," he said with a cautious smile. "Excellent. The boss will be pleased to see his most loyal servant is back."

"Loyal servant?"

"Yes, you a Pokemon that works for our group, Team Black Hole. We are a group of humans and Pokemon that are fighting against wrongs done for Pokemon, like their being placed in balls all the time and abuse by humans. You are one of our top Pokemon agents, and you just came back from a mission. However, you were knocked unconscious by a falling block of wood, and have been unconscious here for the past several days. Your partner was worried sick."

"R-really?" I pondered what he had been saying. So I was an agent for humans that were fighting for Pokemon? I had a partner?

Huh. I wonder who they are.

"Relax," he told me when he saw how much I had been thinking, "you two won't need to go back into action for a few days, so you can recover, and hopefully regain your memories."

"Okay, thanks. What should I do for now?"

"Rest. You need it. By the way, do you want to meet your partner?"

"Sure, can you bring him in here please?"

"Yes, although both of you need to take it easy. No roughhousing, like you usually do."

He left the room, while I simply sat there and waited. Questions flew around my head. Who was my partner? Would they be human or Pokemon? If Pokemon, what kind?

The doctor came back a few minutes later, leading a Beedrill into my room, who let out a gasp when he saw me. "Ash!"

He quickly buzzed over and gave me a hug, as well as he could without stabbing me. "You're okay!"

"I don't feel okay," I replied once he let go. "Do you remember what we were doing before we ended up here?"

"Yep. You and I were sent to kill someone who had terrible beliefs about Pokemon, and was abusing them. The mission was a success, but when we got back they were renovating our HQ. One of the workers accidentally dropped a block of wood, which hit you in the head and knocked you out."

"R-really?"

"Would I lie to you?"

"I-I don't –"

"By the way, my name's Drez, and your name's Ash, if you were wondering."

Wait, what? Ash?

My name was Ash?

It sounded awfully like a name for an idiot who ran around with a gay baseball cap all day.

Still, I couldn't complain. At least I had a name, something to set me apart from other Charmander, even if it was crap.

Wait.

Hold on.

I thought humans couldn't understand Pokemon?

When I posed this question to him, the doctor chuckled.

"Our organization has developed a Pokemon-to-English translator for everyday use, however, everyone has to pay for it out of their own pocket. I'm borrowing a friend of mine's for now." He showed me the earpiece that was inserted into each ear. "They're also extremely expensive, so that doesn't help me here."

"Why, how much are they?"

"For an average grunt like me? Almost a year's worth of pay. That's why each of us wants to be promoted to at least a squad leader; the grunt wages are terrible."

"Ah." I paused. "How long until I get back into action?"

"At least a few days, so that we can monitor you, so that we can be sure you don't fall unconscious again in the middle of a mission."

"Okay." I laid back onto my pillow. I couldn't wait until then.

* * *

After I was finally let out of bed, Drez gave me the grand tour.

And how big was Team Black Hole's HQ?

Don't ask.

He apparently told me, but it involved a long series of calculations that made my head spin almost before he had started.

Let's just call the building big and leave it at that.

There was a giant assembly hall, where the people working for Team Black Hole would gather when there was an announcement, or for meals. Nearby that, there was a library, with what can only be called mountains of books.

There was also a gaming room.

Drez had to drag me away from there with threats of violence against the male anatomy.

With that, I decided that Team Black Hole could do no evil.

Oh, how wrong I was.

* * *

**The plot thickens, and only the author knows what will happen next. You can probably guess what happens next chapter though. It involves another waking up scene, that's all I'm saying for now.**


	9. The First Loss

**I forgot to give you guys the OC submission guidelines, didn't I? Shit. I stuck them at the end of the first chapter, if you want to make your own character.**

* * *

"Ugh… What hit me?" I groaned as I sat up, rubbing the back of my head. Then it came to me. "Ash! Drez!"

"What about Ash?" muttered a voice from my side; I looked over, only for the voice to reveal itself as Blaze.

"He's gone!"

"He's always gone…" Blaze rolled over, muffling his voice.

"No, I mean those policemen took him!"

"…Do you even remember what happened after that?"

"Yeah! Drez suddenly attacked…us… Oh fuck."

"My words exactly. Now, why aren't we dead?" asked Grace, from my other side, stifling a yawn. My response was a shrug.

"Who know? Personally, I prefer being alive, though."

"And I'd like to know why you were being held by those criminals," added a voice from the doorway. I almost fell off the bed in shock at who it was.

"You!"

Into the room stepped someone whom I'd hoped to never see again. The Dayan City Gym Leader, Devin Locke.

We'd grown up together in Gromell Town, even though he was three years older than me. He was also one of maybe four people there that hadn't insulted or avoided me for no particular reason, when we were friends that is.

If he was so nice, then why do I hate him, you may ask? It all started on the day his family moved away, back when I was ten, and he'd just gotten his Starter, a Cyndaquil…

(**Flashback**)

"Hey, Devin!" I called as I crossed the street, just like I had almost every day for the past five years since we'd met. "Where're you going?"

He was putting a suitcase into his family's car, his Cyndaquil, Flare, snoozing on the porch behind him. As I called out, he jumped in shock, and slowly turned around to face me.

"Uh… Hi, Matt," he said cautiously, though I didn't take notice at the time. "How're you doing?"

"Fine! I finally got back at Molly and Fred again for hanging Blaze and me in a tree yesterday!" I answered cheerfully.

"That's good…"

I gave him a look. "You're not as happy as you usually are. What's wrong?"

He sighed, his expression emulating the age and tiredness of an old man. "It's just…" He was temporarily spared answering me by the appearance of Mrs. Locke.

"Oh, hi, Matt! I was wondering when you'd get here! Devin, did you tell Matt the news yet?"

"Um…"

"Oh, you're so forgetful like that. Anyway, Matt, we're moving to Dayan City because Mr. Locke lost his job, so we want to start new somewhere else."

"…What?"

"Do you need troll speak?"

"No, I –"

"We. Are. Moving. To. Dayan. City. You. Two. Should. Say. Bye."

"I'm not stupid, I know what moving is!"

"Children, children!" cried Devin, stepping between the two of us, "don't fight! Violence solves nothing!"

Although none of us knew it at the time, those words would soon turn him into a hypocrite.

I coughed.

"No offense, Matt. Mom, can you go inside, so I can say goodbye without sarcastic comments?"

"Fine, fine." She began to walk back towards their old house, taking a box from the pile next to the snoozing Flare as she went through the door, waving at us to continue before it closed.

"Anyways," said Devin, turning back to me, "we're also going because I got a scholarship to the college there, from how good my grades were. It's supposed to be one of the best colleges in Ikanau!"

I gave a mental snort. Devin had always been a bit arrogant about how smart he was, but I'd never really been bothered. I couldn't resist what came out of my mouth next, mostly from the desire to take him down a peg or two.

"And how low were those grades?" I asked sweetly. "Were they C's, like you always used to get?"

"Shut up," he growled. I noticed he was clenching his fists, probably out of anger, but like the young and stupid kid I was, I soldiered on, unheeding of the consequences.

"Oh, I know! They were D's, weren't they? D for dreadful." I couldn't believe the words that were coming out of my mouth; Devin was my best human friend, and I was pissing him off on purpose! What the hell was wrong with me? This was going beyond the simple teasing the two of us normally did.

"Oh, is that how it's gonna be, whitey?" he snapped.

There was nothing but silence. Even Blaze, coming out of the front door of my house, a bar of chocolate in his hand, froze up.

"What was that?" I asked in a low voice, deadly fury outlining my words.

"You heard me, freakass," he sneered, the corners of his mouth turning up in a mean smile. "You couldn't become a Pokemon trainer if Arceus himself was your best!"

"I bet that you couldn't even get one badge in a million years!" I jeered angrily.

His response was a snort. "Oh, and you could? Listen buddy, At least I have a Pokemon willing to fight!"

Again, there was absolute silence for ten seconds, everything within earshot seemingly shutting up and turning to watch the two of us verbally fight, dangerously close to becoming an all-out brawl.

Thankfully, it didn't come to that, as just when I was about to deck him, the door to his old house opened, and his mother came out, whistling a jaunty tune that soon faded away as she spotted the two of us.

(**End flashback**)

Needless to say, when I heard the news that he had become a Gym Leader, the metaphorical shit hit the fan.

* * *

There was only one thing going through my head at that point. What do you say to someone who probably saved your life, regardless of the fact that the two of you parted on beyond terrible terms the last time you had met?

"Uh… Hi…" I muttered.

He gave a snort. "Nice to see you, too."

"Uh…" I was completely speechless. He was actually being nice. After I'd insulted his genius, no less; he always had had a lot of pride about that. Even though the insult in question had happened three years ago.

"Meowth got your tongue?"

Ah, screw it.

"So, you're the Gym Leader now… How's Flare doing?"

He raised an eyebrow. "She's doing fine. What's it to you?"

"I need a battle," I replied. No, I wasn't in it for the badge; Pokemon really didn't pay attention to how many badges a trainer had when gauging their skill, instead paying more attention to their experience in commanding. Badges were only for entering the League tournaments, anyways. I just wanted the experience, because the simple battles I'd been having with random trainers along the routes weren't going to cut it.

"Fine," Devin replied. "Never thought you'd be one to become a trainer, though."

My response was a helpless shrug. "Remember my parents?"

"Ah." He nodded. "They'd make anyone want to get away from home."

Oh right, I never really told you about my parents, did I? Well, living with them can be described in one word: hell. They were both alcoholics; every night, they'd go out to the local bar, leaving me with just Blaze for company. Not that they'd be good company, though. Before I left, I was their favorite punching bag. Any time either one was mad about something, they'd come and find me, even if I was hiding. The abuse didn't stop with violence, either. Whenever she saw me, the woman who called herself my mother would start swearing ferociously about how much of a failure I was to them, how much of a freak I was, etc., etc., with those encounters always leaving me with bruises from flying objects being thrown at me. In all those times, Blaze was my only source of comfort.

I guess I have to thank them for letting him stay with us, though, even if they treated him like a dumb animal. When we ate, he would be forced to wait on the floor and beg for scraps, for example.

Only good things came out of my coming of age.

I still couldn't help but worry about wherever Ash had gone, though. And wonder why Drez had attacked me.

* * *

"Lights!" called Devin as he strode confidently into the gym. Immidiately, the floodlights mounted at the top of the gym turned on, setting the arena ablaze with light. It was bare of much detail, being mostly flat with a couple of bumps in the sandy floor, most likely to mix things up a little.

Devin took his position at his end of the field, and I took mine, my team gathering behind me, all of them staring around in wonder. Except for Grace, who was trying to chew my pants leg.

"You know the rules, right?" he called as I managed to pry her off.

"No, this is my first Gym Battle," I replied as I checked the bite area for puncture wounds. There were none, luckily.

He smirked. "I guess I should be honored, then. Anyways, three against three, you get to switch, I don't. Simple, no?" Except for the fact that I only have two Pokemon, no. Damn it.

"It's simple, but he's not easy to beat!" a voice called out from above us. Devin smirked again.

"Oh, going to watch my battle, Tracy?"

My head jerked up at the mention of that name. Wasn't that –

"O-oh… It's you…" And there, above us, was that girl I had given a battling lesson to about two weeks ago. And, in her arms was a Shinx.

It _was_ her.

These clichés were driving me nuts.

"You two know each other?" asked Devin, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Y-yeah… He gave me a b-battling lesson when I went to Nagi City to p-pick up that o-order two weeks ago…"

"Oh, well that makes things so much more simple." He indicated me. "Tracy, this is Matt, an old friend of mine. Matt, this is Tracy, my little sister." An indignant "Shinx!" made him chuckle. "And her Shinx, Rocky."

"Hey!" I called out. She merely gave a shy wave, while Rocky meowed from his place in Tracy's arms. "How come I never met you before?"

"Oh, she was living with our grandmother because my parents… Actually, I don't know why she wasn't living with us." He shrugged helplessly. "Sis, wanna ref?"

"Sh-sure…" She clambered slowly out of the stands she had been perched in and took the spot at the referee's box. "B-begin!"

"Byakko, let's go!" Devin cried, throwing a Pokeball. From the light of the ball came a snarling Lucario, already battle-ready.

"Okay, one of you's gonna have to beat two of his Pokemon, got it?" I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. Blaze and Grace nodded. "Then Blaze, you're up!"

"Right!" He jumped into the arena and let out a few kicks, to intimidate his opponent, who simply smirked.

The only way we could win this battle was with a lot of luck, or author's intervention. One of the two. Knowing the number of clichés in this story, though, author's intervention was the best bet.

"You can go first," said Devin confidently.

"With pleasure. Blaze, Quick Attack!" 'With Force Palm,' I added mentally. Blaze nodded, then flew forward, seemingly at the speed of sound. Byakko's smirk only grew wider, though, and he simply used his powers of aura manipulation to leap over my Riolu's attack.

"Byakko, Aura Sphere!" Devin called.

"Sir!" The Lucario charged up a ball of pure aura, throwing it at Blaze. The Aura Sphere made contact, sending my friend flying across the gym into the opposite wall, sending up a smokescreen from the point of impact. "Follow it up with Iron Tail!"

Byakko charged after Blaze, his tail glowing from the attack. There was the sound of the clashing of steel on steel, and a Lucario flew out of the dust, bleeding from his chest. Another strode confidently out of the dust spray, dusting his paws off and throwing me a wink.

This sounds familiar… Like the author had read it a hundred times before and decided to rip it off.

"Yo."

Yep. I grinned happily. It was Blaze all right.

"Blaze!"

"Matt!"

We threw ourselves into the other's arms, sobbing dramatically.

"I never thought you'd evolve!"

"Me neither!"

"Ahem." We looked over at Devin and Byakko, who were both tapping a foot in impatience. "If you're done, then can we get back to the battle?"

"Sure."

Blaze jumped back into the fray, the spikes on his paws glowing from a Metal Claw, swinging at Devin's Lucario, who backflipped over the attack, returning with a Force Palm. As soon as it touch Blaze's chest, there was an explosion as he was sent flying yet again.

"You might be a Lucario now," Byakko called out, "but you're still not as experienced in that form as I am."

Devin smirked, one I knew very well. He was confident, and he had just come up with a plan that guaranteed him the win.

"Byakko, Aura Sphere on the ground in front of you!" he called. Blaze was only just getting up from where the explosion had thrown him; I knew that, even though he'd just evolved, he was too weak to take another hit

"Yes, sir!" Byakko threw an aura ball at the ground, throwing up dust everywhere, some of it getting in Blaze's eyes. He rubbed at them furiously, trying to get the dust out. He was still trying when Byakko erupted from the ground in front of him, Force Palm at the ready.

"Blaze!" I called, but it was too late. He was on the ground, knocked out. I ran out on the field as Tracy called that Byakko had won.

The Lucario picked my friend up and calmly handed him to me, as if he hadn't just won pathetically easily. He wasn't even out of breath.

"When he wakes up, tell him that he needs more training in the ways of the aura." I nodded. "Heh. Devin told me that you could talk to us like any human. I didn't believe it at the time, but now when I read your aura, I see it was true. You are very kindhearted, even after much suffering."

"Um… Thanks?"

"There is much darkness in your soul, though. Be careful that it does not consume you."

* * *

I lost the match. It wasn't even close.

After I'd placed Blaze on a nearby bench and called out Grace, Byakko thrashed her almost as easily as he'd done Blaze.

After he'd beaten Grace into the ground, I had to forfeit the battle, on the condition that I had no more Pokemon. Devin was fascinated that I'd challenged him, even though I didn't have enough Pokemon for a true gym challenge.

Typical of him.

The real "surprise" came a week later, when I finally went to leave Dayan City…

* * *

" – And I want you to take my sister with you when you go."

I stared at him, openmouthed.

"…Why?"

"Because, A: she needs the experience, B: she wanted to go anyway, and I figured you could mentor her, since you have a month more experience than her, C: I can't do it myself, since I have Gym duties, and D:… Well, you'll have to find that out for yourself."

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Okay, although this sounds like it's been done about twenty thousand times before…"

"Trust me, it has," he sighed. "Those other authors ripped off TheBrick's idea before he even got it."

"So true, so true…"

There was an an awkward silence as the two of us thought of something to say.

"Well, I guess I'll see you when you come back for the badge," Devin said at last.

"Yeah... I didn't know this was the fourth gym when I challenged you," I replied, scratching the back of my head nervously.

"I'm hoping for a damn good match next time."

"Count on it."

* * *

**I do not own Devin Locke, he is owned by Alphawolfy28. I would also like to thank my anonymous reviewer for their character, and for their… enthusiastic reviews. Also, longest chapter so far!**


	10. A Pair of Helpers

**Very, very belated Merry Christmas, and very belated Happy New Year! **

**In other news, this is the only OC I'll be using submitted by an anonymous reviewer, since she was submitted before I put up the guidelines/PM only thingy. So, Katelyn Korral is owned by Rosey, whoever they are. **

* * *

I bet you're wondering how Tracy and the rest of our group got along, aren't you? Well, here's the short version: I'm fine with her, she still stutters a bit around Matt, and her and Grace are inseparable. Literally, they're inseparable. Grace hasn't stopped riding around on Tracy's shoulder for the past week since we left Dayan City.

I swear, Grace could be traded to her, and they would both be that much happier. And it wouldn't even matter that much, since she's traveling with us. Of course, there's that problem that Tracy has no Pokemon to trade with Matt. Monkeywrench if there ever was one, since the only way to really transfer ownership of a Pokemon is with those trading machines the humans use.

But I digress.

Matt said that we're going to Garet Town next, because that's where the first gym on the regular circuit is supposed to be.

So why didn't we go there first, you may ask?

Because he wanted to stop in another town along the way, for some hair dye. He said something about keeping undercover, like a good idiot. I'm not sure what that meant, though; I might've known him basically since he was born, but that doesn't mean I know how he thinks. I think it might be the fact that he's tired of acting like an idiot around other people Of course, the idiocy is usually just an act, for those that think that people with white hair are touched in the head. Still doesn't make it any less annoying.

But I'm going off track. The point is, we found someone on the route there. They were unconscious. We're goody-goodies. It doesn't take a rocket scientist. It all started like this...

* * *

"Weeeee're off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz…" we all sang, skipping down Route 3 while linking arms together. Several of the trainers we passed just gave us all odd looks and went to the other side of the road, without stopping to challenge either of the humans to a battle.

Oh, wait, never mind; someone's stopping. A girl, about thirteen, with shoulder-length red hair, bangs swept to either side; brown eyes; a plain white t-shirt; thigh-length gray shorts; a light gray backpack; and white sneakers. On her shoulder, a Plusle was grinning cheerfully at us, while seeming to practice the dancing cheer that all pokemon of its species seemed to be masters at.

"Which of you is a trainer?" she demanded as she pointed dramatically, the Cheering Pokemon mimicking her. Matt and Tracy looked at each other.

"Both of us." The girl's reaction to the statement was priceless.

"_Both of you?_" she shrieked, accidentally dropping her backpack onto her foot. She swore violently, pulling the backpack off, only to yell out and drop it on her other foot out of surprise as a baby Spinarak crawled across the top.

I was having a hard time not bursting into laughter, and by the looks of it, I wasn't the only one.

"Whew," she gasped once she'd shaken the Spider Pokemon off. She wiped her forehead clear of sweat, the Plusle on her shoulder again mimicking her. "Okay, what was I doing again?"

"Y-you were challenging me to a battle," said Tracy, most likely freaked-out at the crazy girl. A look of realization passed across the other trainer's face.

"Oh! Now I remember!" I sweatdropped. This girl might have been an experienced trainer, but she sure was easily excitable.

* * *

"So, one on one?" the girl, who had introduced herself as Katelyn Korral, asked once the humans had taken their places at opposite ends of the field, us Pokemon standing behind them. Tracy nodded her agreement.

"S-sure, I c-can do that."

"Okay! Bellossom, go!" she cried, throwing a Pokeball into the air.

"Yay!" the Pokemon cried as he appeared, doing a short dance. "Fighty time!"

"R-rocky, go!" Tracy stuttered, throwing her own Pokeball into the arena.

"Zzz…" I had to hold in my laughter as the Shinx appeared out of his ball, fast asleep.

"Hey!" Katelyn called from where she stood, across the field from her opponent. "Wake your Shinx up!"

"Ow…" Rocky groaned, getting to his feet shakily; I had to agree with him in this case, as Tracy's opponent didn't exactly have the most angelic voice in the world. Actually, it got on one's nerves after a while of listening to it, no matter what the person attached to it was like.

"Okay! Let's get this thing going!" Katelyn cried. "Use Sleep Powder!" Bellossom yelled a battle cry as the flowers on his head began to rotate. When they reached a speed that made them appear as only a blur, the Pokemon cried out, releasing the spores in the direction of Rocky. The Shinx was unable to escape from the fast-acting spores quickly enough, falling victim as they reached his location.

Tracy gasped. "Oh, no!"

Her opponent wasn't inclined to show mercy, being the more experienced trainer. "Okay Bellossom, now Petal Dance until it faints!"

Bellossom gave another battle cry, spinning like a dancer in place, before releasing a series of sharp-edged petals out of his skirt (Not gonna make a crossdressing joke… Not gonna make a crossdressing joke…) at Rocky. The Shinx cried out in his sleep as the, and I never thought I'd say this, fearsome flower petals cut into his skin, leaving several bloody slashes across his body.

"Again!"

Bellossom cried out again, although this time, the twirl was slightly off-put by his dizziness from using the move twice in a row. Regardless, the razor-edged petals sliced into Rocky's body, making him scream in agony, the drug-induced sleep finally leaving him, only to be met with a final attack to the face. Unconsciousness was swift.

"Rocky!" Tracy cried, sprinting over to the fallen Pokemon, gathering him up into her arms with a wail. Her opponent strode over to Matt, sending a gentle look over at the sobbing trainer.

"I'm guessing that was her first trainer battle?"

Matt nodded in affirmation. Katelyn sighed, going over to Tracy.

"Look, kid… It was your first loss, wasn't it?" Tracy nodded, tears glinting on her cheeks in the sunlight. "Well, that just means that you have room to improve. You've gotta take your losses and look at them and say, 'what could I have done better?' And then you've got to go out into the world and not be afraid of losing, because once you think you're going to lose, then you've lost before the battle's even started. You understanding me?"

Tracy nodded.

"Good. 'Cause if you don't think you're going to lose, then you've never truly lost." Katelyn gave her listener a pat on the back before standing up. "I hope you go far, kid."

* * *

"I wonder if we're ever going to see any of these people we meet again?" I wondered out loud as we continued on our merry way down the road. Rocky had woken up from his unconsciousness with the help of a revive, and him and Tracy were chatting to each other as well as a pair of creatures that couldn't understand a word the other was saying. They were doing surprisingly well with that. "I mean, there's about seven billion people in the world, and we've only met a couple."

"Relax, buddy," Matt replied, putting a hand on my shoulder. "If we never meet them again, there's still those other ninety-six people that we get to meet in the afterlife."

I was silent for a moment. "…Was that supposed to be comforting?"

"No, because I suck at that."

"Oh, really?" I asked, a sarcastic edge slipping into my voice.

"I suck at all that lovey-dovey crap that girls are so famous for," he continued as our group stepped into the woods on the side of the Route, to set up camp. "I mean, it's like –woah!" He cried out as he tripped over something in the darkness.

I stood there, offering him a paw when he went to stand back up. "What was that?"

"I dunno. It felt weird, though. Kind of soft…" We both looked down.

I stepped back in shock, while Matt just stood there, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. And what was it that made us do these actions?

It was an Absol.

The Pokemon was just lying there, motionless, with its mouth open. As if it was dead. There were several lacerations all over its body, and the Pokemon's fur was matted with dried blood. On the forest floor next to it was a broken Pokeball, split in two, each half dark as night. More blood was splattered on the ground around the Pokemon's body.

Matt knelt down and put a finger on the Absol's neck, feeling for a pulse. His eyes widened for a split second, then he sighed.

"It's dead, isn't it?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No, but just barely. The pulse was very faint."

"Then why are we just standing here talking?"

* * *

Tracy and us Pokemon quickly built camp as Matt carefully tended to the Absol's wounds. I couldn't help but worry, though. What if we didn't have the right medical things? What if the Absol died before we could help it? Or we learned its gender?

I took out my frustrations about not being able to answer my questions by gathering wood. As I picked up a branch, putting it with the fairly hefty stack in my arms, I heard Matt calling my name. Dropping my armload by the fire pit that Grace was carving out of the ground with her paws, I went over to my friend, passing Tracy along the way. She was attempting to set up the tents, but was apparently having a hard time of it, as shown by the several holes surrounding the tent pegs.

"What?"

"Can you hold her down while I apply some medicine to her cuts? She keeps thrashing around whenever I touch one, and I don't want her to hurt herself."

"Her?"

He pointed to the blade attached to the side of the Absol's head, which was slightly stained with blood. The Absol's or something else's, I didn't know. "If she was a male, then this would be more serrated. Male Absol tend to duel over a female, and they have a more serrated edge to their blades, to injure their opponent more."

Well. I never knew that. Of course, I never really made a point out of learning how to tell other species of Pokemon's genders apart from each other. The rare few I do know how to tell apart are mostly Grass types, because of how common they are in this region. Like the Bellossom from earlier.

"Huh."

Matt sighed. "If you're done learning, then can you restrain her? Now?"

My answer was placing my paws carefully upon the Absol's flank, before pressing down gently but firmly to hold her legs in place. Matt opened the medical kit at his side and pulled out a red and orange spray bottle, filled with a Super Potion. I tightened my grip on the Absol's legs.

"Ready."

I had to tighten my grip nearly at once. The Absol thrashed about, almost knocking my paws away in her unconscious struggle to escape the pain.

Her jerking about continued, myself still trying to hold the Absol in place, before stopping at last with a final, tired sigh. Panting, I looked up to see Matt putting the Super Potion back in the medicine kit.

"That all you needed?"

Matt nodded, gesturing for me to leave while reaching back into the bag. I complied, turning around and returning to my firewood gathering. Worry was still clawing away at my insides, though: what if the Absol died anyways, after we had helped her? I just didn't know, and since I'm not clairvoyant, I couldn't see into the future to dispel my worries.

Instead, I busied myself with showing Tracy how to set up a tent properly.

* * *

**I apologize yet again for the wait. A big part of that wait was spent constantly rewriting the fight scene in the middle of the chapter, mostly because it just wouldn't come out right. Even now, I think I forced it. The rest of the wait was a mix of being unable to get to my computer, or procrastinating once I did get to my computer. One more thing: the next updates of this story are going to be rewritten versions of the first couple of chapters, since I'm unable to keep any sort of consistency with the writing of this story. And, the fact that I stated several things in those chapters that make the plot I have written out for it so much weaker than I would like it to be. If I keep those things, then the story will grow weaker over time, and I don't want that.**


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